When I look at the title, "Good Girl," the first thing that comes to my mind is exactly what the title says. When I think more about the title I start to think that the poem is about a girl who is now good but was not always that good. From personal experience of reading literary I learned that a lot of titles are ironic and have exact opposite meanings. Due to that biased mindset, I go into the poem thinking that this girl has or had a dark side to her. This mindset will make me look at certain things that will be said in the poem and take a negative view on them to fit my interpretation of the title.
After reading the poem, my original analysis was pretty close to being related to the actual story. The narrator in the poem is not the "good girl." By the way the narrator speaks, it leads me to believe that the narrator was once a partner with this now good girl. In the poem the narrator brings up the past to the good girl and tries to get her to go relive her old life style.
The main symbol used for the good girl is her being a dog. From personal knowledge, a dog is usually referred to men who sleep around with a lot of women and live a very fast life style. The way the narrator speaks, it leads to me to think that is her definition of a dog as well. I say this because of this line used by the narrator, "blast naked into the streets, and leap on the first beautiful man you find."
At the end of the poem, the narrator refers to the neighbors dogs howling for the good girl. I believe this line is referring to the slutty men of the community.
when i saw the tittle i figured that it would be the opposite of what the story would be about.
ReplyDeletei think maybe she wants to be young again so she can do all those wild things, but the interpretation you did is also awesome just like the professor mentioned we all have different interpretations.
Good reader response analysis to the poem “Good Girl” Kim. I think your right when you say that a lot of titles are ironic, many literary titles are ironic, so no matter what new title we read we start thinking what could it mean other than its literal meaning. Which could mean good things or bad things, it could help us understand the story better, because we are now seeing what we first analyzed, or we won’t understand the story because we are trying to see something that is not happening.
ReplyDeleteNicholas,
ReplyDeleteNicholas,
You write, “When I look at the title, "Good Girl," the first thing that comes to my mind is exactly what the title says.” This is a bit vague – “exactly what” means . . . what? The quintessential version of a “good girl” What does that look like?
“When I think more about the title I start to think that the poem is about a girl who is now good but was not always that good. From personal experience of reading literary I learned that a lot of titles are ironic and have exact opposite meanings.” This is interesting – that you’re expectations before getting into the poem are formed from previous reading experience.
“Due to that biased mindset, I go into the poem thinking that this girl has or had a dark side to her. This mindset will make me look at certain things that will be said in the poem and take a negative view on them to fit my interpretation of the title.” Okay. So you’re suggesting that you’re actively trying to making the poem “fit” your interpretation of the title? This is fine, even intriguing, but you’ll want to be a bit clearer here. Do you expect that the poem might impose upon your preconceived ideas? (i.e., the poem imposing on the reader just as the reader imposes on the poem).
“After reading the poem, my original analysis was pretty close to being related to the actual story.” Do you mean that your interpretation matches the poems signals and clues (the interpretation the poem appears to guide the ideal reader toward)?
“The narrator in the poem is not the "good girl." By the way the narrator speaks, it leads me to believe that the narrator was once a partner with this now good girl.” So you’re sensing there’s two parties here – the speaker and the “girl”? When you say “partner” do you mean romantic partner? Male or female? Ideally, you’ll clarify the relationship between speaker and character (or know whether the speaker and character are one and the same) early on in the paper.
“In the poem the narrator brings up the past to the good girl and tries to get her to go relive her old life style.” There’s not really enough in the poem to support this assertion (the poem doesn’t describe an actual/specific lifestyle).
“The main symbol used for the good girl is her being a dog.” You’re on the right track but this reads awkwardly. If you see the dog as a direct symbol, just state as much.
From personal knowledge, a dog is usually referred to men who sleep around with a lot of women and live a very fast life style. The way the narrator speaks, it leads to me to think that is her definition of a dog as well. I say this because of this line used by the narrator, "blast naked into the streets, and leap on the first beautiful man you find." As you put this here, the dog is a man, but the speaker is a woman . . . this section is confusing. As I said, you’re on the right track with the dog = symbol thinking but will need to rework/rethink some of the grammar and syntax here.
“refers to the neighbors dogs howling for the good girl” – not sure what you mean by “for” the girl here.
“I believe this line is referring to the slutty men of the community.” While I don’t at all want to impose a particular reading on you, there’s really nothing in the poem that supports this. I would be happy to help you work through the poem if you'd like.
A